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I spend très beaucoup time keeping up with thought leadership on social media and social CRM topics, hopefully adding to the discussion.
A big discussion topic centers on whether social media is a paradigm shift for how companies will be called to interact with their customers.
Is it? Hmmm. Yes and no. I’m going to give you my 2 cents worth and am interested in yours.
Yesterday, I spoke at the Women's Business Council’s Emerging Leaders Program of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce on the topic of Online Social Networking - Strategies for Success. Thanks so much to the Fairfax Chamber for having me.
The talk went super but what made it the most fun for me, and hopefully more valuable for the audience, was my interest in making it be a two-way discussion (as opposed to me being a talking head).
Several things happened as a result:
Cynthina Heinsohn, my partner, and I collaborate with each other to manage our business and advance our projects. For the latter, we also collaborate with clients to meet their business objectives and with external partners in various capacities.
We’re like everyone else when it comes to collaboration. Sometimes we hit the mark and others we fall short. We’ve learned successful collaboration can be encapsulated by a simple formula:
Collaboration = Connection + Communication + Cooperation + Integration
The challenge is finding pathways to collaboration.
Cynthina Heinsohn, my business partner, and I have been undergoing a bit of a revolution in our service offerings. We’re shifting our professional focus to what we do the best and love the most.
We’re offering an array of services and solutions to spark business online. These center on developing and implementing customer-facing and collaborative systems and the back-office systems heightening their value.
How is this different than what we’ve been doing? I’ll let you in on a secret. It really isn’t.
What we’re really doing is realigning how we present ourselves to the market. You see, while Intellicore Design Consulting attracted and performed customer-facing projects all along, we’ve been most actively promoting our CRM service offerings. Doing one thing while promoting another.
Thought you might be interested in several good articles on topics around the convergence of social media and technology. Scroll down through the comments because I added to the discussion in both articles.
Navigating through the social media world can be challenging, especially for companies new to these channels.
Part of the challenge is the breath of social media. To do it right, companies need to consider the both user needs and business needs.
Bridging user and business needs is our speciality and that's why we can help you.
Think social media doesn't have an impact on your company? Think again. And yes, that's true even if your business is B2B.
Forrester just published its third annual Social Technographics Profile. Some of the highlights can be found on the Groundswell website or you can purchase the full report from Forrester, entitled "The Broad Reach of Social Technologies.” The company gathered and analyzed data from across North America, Europe, and Asia.
A few of the stats that popped out at me are these:
Bob Warfield recently wrote a article on the need to integrate Customer Service and customer interaction. Additionally, he also pointed towards the very real possibility of how sometimes being too social can be the wrong move for a company.
Bob’s observation highlights the customer service challenge of finding the right mix between offering self-service options mixed with help from real people via phone and via also social media channels. It’s about providing service in ways customers want and need.
Circling around all this social challenge, companies also still need to be cost-effective in managing their businesses.
Break it down and the challenge is about finding a balance between business need and user/customer needs. That’s a driving motivator behind whole Social CRM movement.
Rackspace Email (formerly Mailtrust) is an excellent example of a company who is successfully hurdling the challenge as they offer excellent service delivered by a variety of avenues.
